A second volume of discourses or sermons on several scriptures

Now in sundry Verses before the Text the Apostle laid down several sedatiou• Commands: Let none render evil for evil; rejoice evermore; pray without ceasing; in every thing give thanks; quench not the Spirit; prove all things; abstain from all appearance of evil; being now towards the end and close of his Epistle, and not willing to omit the mentioning of Duties so necessary for their Practice, he doth, as it were, pour them out in weighty, though short, Exhortations. The connection betwixt most of them is very dark, or else none at all, only betwixt the Text and the two immediately foregoing Verses, it may seem more plain and natural. In v. 20. he exhorts them not to despise Prophesying; Despise not Prophecy; that is, the Preaching even of the common and ⟨p. 107⟩•dinary Preachers and Teachers, whose office it was to expound the Scriptures • them, and to declare the Mind and •ill of God out of the Scripture. Did •e Apostle mean only that extraordina• and miraculous Prophesying that he •oke of, 1 Cor. 14. When by an imme•ate impulse and influence of the Holy •host, either they foretold things future, • else spake in divers Languages; he •eeded not then to have so solicitously •re warned them not to despise him; once so great a Miracle as this Prophesy•g of, would sufficiently have vindica•d it self from all contempt: The leaning therefore is this; Whatever •ifts or Graces you may have attained •nto, though you may know your du•es as well, and though you may practise your duties better than they; yet despise not their Teaching; but what they propound to you as the Will of God, that ttend unto with all reverence and submission: But yet, says the Apostle, I would ot have you therefore pull out your own yes because of the gifts of your Teachers and Leaders; no, do not mancipate nd captivate your selves to whatever hey shall dictate unto you; but prove